In Part 1, I reviewed the general details of the book. For Part 2, I attended a cooking demonstration at Macy’s, where I got to taste two dishes cooked by Ming. Part 3 was a recipe tryout of his Asian Spaghetti. For this part, I chose to try a recipe from the High Temp section.

It’s got a ridiculously long recipe name: Panko-crusted Turkey “Scaloppini” with Warm Mango-Cranberry Chutney. Holy crap, right? I guess high profile chefs with their own restaurants can’t help but put menu style titles in their “simple” cookbooks. I made two substitutions: chicken instead of turkey (I already had it in the fridge) and strawberries instead of cranberries (I hate fresh cranberries).

The first thing you need for this recipe is a massive amount of parsley. I’m lucky enough to have a parsley bush outside that’s the size of a lion’s mane, so I could just pick to my heart’s content. If I bought a bunch of parsley at the market I could see myself using up almost the whole thing for this recipe, especially if you have a little more meat than the recipe calls for.

I finished up my chopping of the mango, strawberry, and parsley. I was a bit leery as I’m not a terribly big chutney fan, but figured with two of my favorite fruits, I had to at least try.

I sliced the massive chicken breasts I had into two slices each and pounded them flat. I dipped the chicken in flour, then egg, then the parsley panko, and then fried them in my new cast iron skillet (I bought it because my other one has a wooden handle and that makes it impossible to stick it in the oven!) It fried to a beautiful golden brown.

It was essentially chicken katsu but with parsley in it and chutney instead of katsu sauce, but I was very pleased with the thickness, texture, and juiciness of the chicken so I may have to change from my usage of chicken thighs when making katsu.

I served it with rice and some simmered kabocha. The chutney was very different, but tasted pretty good. The parsley chopping was a bit time consuming and I can see it being even worse if you don’t have a mezzaluna, which is what I used. Mainly what I got out of it is that I actually can cook juicy chicken breast. Usually I end up doing something wrong and it ends up kind of dry, but this was tender, juicy, and delicious.

The fruits made for a pretty expensive “sauce”, so if you’re going to make this but want to go cheaper, just eat this with katsu sauce and it’ll still taste great. That’s what Mr. Pikko did; the chutney was a bit too fancy pants and foreign for him.

Panko-Crusted Turkey “Scaloppini” with Warm Mango-Cranberry Chutney

Okay, seriously, way too long. My suggestions are in italics.

Ingredients

2 pounds skinless turkey or chicken breast, sliced

salt and pepper

2 eggs, beaten (I needed 3 or 4)

1 cup panko (I needed more than 1 cup)

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

1 cup all-purpose flour (1/2 cup should be enough)

5 tbsp evoo

2 shallots, minced

1 cup fresh cranberries or strawberries (diced)

1 large mango, peeled and diced

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Instructions

Cover a slice of meat with plastic wrap and pound to 1/4 inch thickness, repeat for all. Season with salt and pepper.

Combine panko and half of the parsley. Prepare breading line of flour, eggs, and panko mixture and coat the meat in that order.

Heat oil in a skillet on medium-high and fry the slices until golden brown on each side. Move to a plate lined with paper towel.

It says “Serves 4” on the recipe, with servings being 2 pieces each. I can’t remember how many pounds of chicken I had, but one piece was a lot for me to eat. If serving kids and people watching their calorie intake, you could easily stretch this to 6-8 servings. I’ve noticed in general that Ming makes recipes with ginormous serving portions.